Generally, refrigerator appliances include a cabinet that defines a fresh food chamber for receipt of food items for storage. Refrigerator appliances also usually include a door that, with normal operation, pivots about one or more hinges between an open and a closed position to allow access to the fresh food chamber. Many refrigerator appliances further include one or more freezer chambers for receipt of food items for freezing and storage, with a door positioned to selectively open or close the freezer chambers.
Some consumers may desire to customize the appearance of a refrigerator appliance, e.g., by providing one or more decorative panels as part of each door of the refrigerator. Such panels are typically mounted on the refrigerator appliance using one or more brackets positioned at the top and bottom of the door such that the brackets are hidden from the consumer's view. Thus, the sides of the panels are left unsupported, which, over time, may allow the panel to warp or creep. Additionally, a handle mounted to the panel is often provided for each door, to assist the consumer in opening and closing the door. Without supporting the sides of the panel, when a user pulls on the handle to open the door, the pulling force may cause the panel to flex, which could be undesirable in terms of how the panel appears and how the handle feels to the consumer.
Accordingly, improved refrigerator appliances are desired. In particular, a refrigerator appliance with features for firmly attaching a decorative panel to a door of the refrigerator appliance, where such features are hidden from the view of a user of the refrigerator appliance, would be advantageous. Additionally, a door for a refrigerator appliance with concealed features for attaching a decorative panel to the door would be beneficial.